England and the lost art of batting

Australia nearly always has it. In recent times India has had an abundance of it. It used to be plentiful in England too, but lately it's been misplaced.

I'm talking about successful batsmanship, and if England doesn't rediscover the art in a hurry the Ashes will remain in Australian hands.

The England batting performance at Headingley was spineless. Not only did it lack determination, it was also devoid of nous. If it wasn't for a bit of spirited late hitting, which had the feel of a body's final twitches in the death throes, England wouldn't have come close to scoring 300 runs for the match. Never mind how abysmal the bowling - and it was as poor as an empty pocket - no attack can produce a victory working with such flimsy ammunition. How has England's batting plummeted to such depths?

Excuses can be made. Kevin Pietersen was missing, the fire alarm disturbed the players' sleep and Andrew Flintoff's recently rediscovered batting form wasn't there to stiffen the middle order. However, these are only excuses. Good teams find a way to overcome adversity.

If ever England needed their young batsmen to step forward it was at Headingley, but instead Alistair Cook, Ravi Bopara and Ian Bell were missing in action.

Firstly, it amazed me there was even a discussion about who would and wouldn't play in the latest round of county games. There's no better way of preparing for a game of cricket than actually playing in one. All the England players who didn't have injury concerns should've been playing in the round of matches between the fourth and fifth Tests.

Secondly, what has happened to the very English art of batting to survive difficult periods? There was a time when that was what they did best. In the era of Ken Barrington, Geoff Boycott and John Edrich, survival wasn't a problem. The excuse is often proffered that England play too much limited-overs cricket and consequently the art of survival has been lost. Well, how come India's batting has prospered in a period where they've played an unprecedented number of ODIs?

Since Sachin Tendulkar came on the scene in 1989, India has played 172 Tests and 550 ODIs. In that period Indian batting has flourished in Test cricket. Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag all have mighty fine records. And just to reinforce the argument, Gautam Gambhir, a recent successful addition to the team, has no trouble adjusting from one form of the game to another.

Ricky Ponting is another who has flourished as a Test batsman in an era where the ODI schedule is more crowded than a Mumbai bazaar. And even though Australia has suffered from recent retirements, Marcus North, their latest batting success, was able to cobble together a century at Headingley with a combination of gritty determination and judicious strokeplay. North has far less international experience than Cook and Bell and has played slightly fewer Tests than Bopara.

Forget the too-much-limited-overs-cricket theory; that is just another excuse. Former England batsman and now renowned commentator David Lloyd said during the World Twenty20 tournament, "I watch domestic limited-overs matches, and every time there's a reverse sweep or a flick over the keeper's head, team-mates say, 'Great shot.' It's not a great shot when batsmen from other international teams are smacking traditional cricket strokes into the stands."

Could it be that English batsmen favour style over substance?

One of the best pieces of batting advice I ever received came from former Australian left-hander Bob Cowper. He said, "It's not what you look like that matters but the number that goes next to your name on the scoreboard."

Even Pietersen, a fine stroke-maker, who spent his developmental years in South Africa, sometimes opts for style over substance. His ridiculous premeditated sweep shot in Cardiff was an unnecessary risk for potentially little reward.

England has a decent attack, and even without Flintoff it should be strong for a few years to come. However, unless the young England batsmen quickly discover the art of run-scoring it won't matter what the bowlers achieve at the Oval: Australia will retain the Ashes.